Fonterra’s 36 per cent puts NZ ‘on map’ in China

Fonterra now accounts for 36 per cent of all dairy imports into China and its Anchor brand has become the top imported consumer choice in just five years, it says.

The dairy co-operative’s president of greater China, Christina Zhu, underscored the importance of New Zealand and China for each other.

She said 11 per cent of China’s total dairy consumption was Fonterra, and 26 per cent of Fonterra’s output was shipped to China.

‘‘We all want to put New Zealand on the map. Fonterra has done that with dairy.’’ The increase in dairy trade has been rapid since the signing of the landmark free trade agreement in 2008. Exports of all New Zealand goods to China have quadrupled, reaching $15.3 billion this year.

When the Anchor brand was launched in 2013, the dairy giant offered only one product, but that has soared to 47, including a variety of fresh milk that sits on the supermarket shelf for only 24 hours.

Fonterra has teamed up with e-commerce retailer Alibaba to sell the fresh milk in its new Hema stores. The milk comes from Fonterra’s China farms, which have 28,000 milking cows.

Sales for the diary giant’s ingredients’ business alone have jumped from $1b to $5b a year.

Fonterra also sells products to bakeries, pizzerias, cafes and tea houses. It supplies 80 per cent of the butter sold into these outlets, 50 per cent of the mozzarella cheese, and 50 per cent of the cream.

About 55 per cent of Anchor brand sales were online, with 45 per cent in 13,000 stores.